A faux queen or bio queen or diva queen or female queen[1] is a female performance artist who adopts the style typical of male drag queens. A faux queen may be jocularly described as "a drag queen trapped in a woman's body".[2] Other descriptions include "biologically-challenged" drag queen, "female female impersonator",[3] or "female impersonator impersonator".[4] Like traditional drag queens and drag kings, faux queens play with traditional gender roles and gender norms to educate and entertain. Faux queens can appear alongside drag kings at lesbiandrag shows and are interchangeable with "regular" (assigned male at birth) drag queens as emcees, performers, hostesses, and spokesmodels.[5]

For some it can be a way to redefine postmodern feminism; faux queen Ms. Lucia Love stated, "Drag queens would be nowhere without women."[6] For others it simply is about dressing up and having fun.[7] In the words of faux queen Hoku Mama Swamp "I was born to love faggots, queens, and trannies, and have slowly been morphing into them since childhood."[8]

In San Francisco, the first ever Faux Queen pageant was produced as a benefit by Diet Popstitute[9] and the first title holder was Coca Dietetica aka Laurie Bushman. The Klubstitute Kollective[8] was formed after Diet Popstitute's death to continue to raise funds and provide a space for the performers who, at the time, weren't always welcome in regular drag venues. Pageant organizer Ruby Toosday had "friends who got fired (from drag clubs) for being women...it seemed like we had definitely hit a nerve.[3] Contestants were judged on drag, talent, and personality by an all-star panel of judges[10] and the winner helped "femcee" the following year. The pageants were held from 1996 to 2005. The Faux Queen Pageant was resurrected in 2012 by former title holder Bea Dazzler, and will continue to be a yearly competition in San Francisco.

Fauxnique (dancer & performance artist Monique Jenkinson) became the first faux queen to win a major drag pageant - competing against male or MTF drag queens - when she was crowned Miss Trannyshack 2003. From Bust Magazine: "'(drag) comes down to a sort of self-awareness, a self-consciousness about playing around with femininity,' says Fauxnique. She adds that while drag for her is primarily about performance, it's also a 'rejection of traditional oppressive forms of masculinity_—and that's part of an affinity with gay men as well. I wouldn't say every faux queen is a feminist, but I would say that a part of them is in some way.'"[11]

The comedy films Connie and Carla[13] and Victor Victoria both centre on faux queens, but the main characters of both films are women who are forced by circumstance to work as faux queens. They keep their gender a secret and impersonate men when off-stage, quite unlike their real-life counterparts.